


Promises

by Mimm



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-20
Updated: 2006-06-20
Packaged: 2018-05-10 00:20:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5561512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mimm/pseuds/Mimm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Promises asked, promises given.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promises

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Empy for her 25th birthday.

In his eyes she could see the love she wished for, and she wondered if she should ever see that same love in another man's eyes.

"My sister," he said. "You will be happy. I see it in your future."

"Imrahil, you cannot see my fate any better than I can. I know that, so why do you say that you do?"

"Because if anyone deserves love and happiness, it is you."

He was smiling fondly, and Finduilas leaned her forehead against his chest, her hands around him. There was a warm breeze around them, and she felt calmed by it and the arms around her.

"I do love him," she said. "Not like I love you, but strongly enough to hope that all will end well, should I marry him."

"Why would you not take him?" Imrahil asked her, his hands stroking the back of her head. She sighed, warming to the touch.

"I wish I could have you both," she finally said, so quietly that the words were barely a whisper.

"But you do have me," he said. "You always have and always will. Bonds like ours are not meant to be broken by other Men."

Finduilas smiled, then laughed a little.

"You sound like a love-sick fool, dear brother."

"Better love-sick and foolish than cold-hearted and alone."

Finduilas found no answer for that, so she turned towards the sea and listened to it. The seagulls were shrieking nearby, sweeping across the air, diving downwards. The water splashed onto itself, wave upon wave, and Finduilas thought it was as if they were making a soft murmur, like someone was talking. The sea had always spoken to her, even when she did not understand the words it was saying.

"I will miss this," she said with sadness. "I can take my belongings with me, but I will have to leave my beloved sea behind."

Imrahil, still standing next to her, looked at the seagulls, then at her.

"I promise you, dear sister, that I will bring with me sand from this beach and stones smoothened by the water when I come and see you two."

Finduilas smiled, feeling a warm rush in her body at the words. Imrahil would never change.

"But the scent, Imrahil. You cannot bring that."

"Yes I can. I will bottle it up and bring it to you, and you will feel and smell home again. This I can promise you."

"No, Imrahil. Do not give a promise that you cannot keep."

Imrahil looked at her for a long while, and she listened to the gulls and the water as she closed her eyes. Imrahil's lips were soft on her forehead.

"You know I would do it. For my sister, I would even bring the sea."

Finduilas let her hand slide around Imrahil's waist, the coarse fabric of the robe brushing against her skin. She leaned her head against him, and they looked at the sun that was still shining bright. Everything felt calm.

"Perhaps you are right," she said. "Perhaps this is the beginning of my life. When we are old and grey, I will look at this moment and realize what a fool I was for doubting you and Denethor. We will be fine, Imrahil."

Imrahil turned his head to look at her, then he looked at the sea again. His hold around her shoulders became tighter, and finally he relaxed.

"I hope so."

Finduilas searched for Imrahil's hand, and when she found it, she took it between her own.

"Come, Imrahil," she said, starting to pull his hand.

"Where are you taking me?" he asked, but she only laughed.

"I will show you."

She led them over the piles of stones, her foot as steady as it had been since her childhood. Imrahil came behind her, their hands still together, and laughed.

"Is this the behaviour of a lady to be?"

"Lady or not, you will still love me," she said as she walked towards the cliff in front of them. When they arrived there, to a small open space between the stones and the stony wall, she stopped and let his hand go.

"I do believe I will," he said, stopping right next to her. "Why did you bring me here?"

"Do you not recognize the place?" she asked, examining Imrahil's face closely until she noticed the recognition in his eyes.

He walked closer to the cliff and pressed his hands against the stone, never breaking the touch as he walked further. At last, he stopped and stooped down, dropping softly onto his knees. There was a ledge of a sort in the stone wall, and under it there were markings. Two handprints, small and dark grey. Finduilas looked at Imrahil, who was now caressing the handprints with his fingertips.

"We were young," he said. "How can you still remember?"

"Do you think I would forget something like this?" she said, walking to him and sitting on her knees as well. She moved her hand onto the other handprint, the smaller one of the two. "This was our place. It still is."

Imrahil placed his hand on the other print. "Why did you bring me here now?"

"Because I want you to promise me something, Imrahil."

"Anything."

"When I have children, I want them to come here. Perhaps they cannot live here like we did, but I want them to visit this place. I want this to be their place."

"Of course," he said. "You need not even ask that."

Finduilas smiled at him, then sat down onto the ground, leaning against the stone wall.

"Thank you."

Imrahil came down next to her. She was looking at the gulls further in the distance.

"When they are older, my sons and daughters, they will come here like us."

For a while, Imrahil said nothing. Then he nodded, and took her hand in his. There they sat together, under the cliff, for a long time. Finduilas thought about Denethor, about their future, and about the family that she knew she would get. She would be happy, she knew. As long as she had Imrahil there with her, even if he could not be with her all the time, everything would turn out all right.


End file.
